There’s No Reason You Can’t Work At Home: Don't let these 5 Excuses Hold You Back

© 2006 Leslie Truex

I greatly admire people who succeeded at working at home before the Internet. These people truly desired the flexibility and freedom of working at home because they were willing to do hard things like talk to people to get business. They didn’t get discouraged that they were limited to working only in their area unless they were willing to place ads in distant newspapers and snail mail their products. Somehow they found the money to advertise their business and invest in expensive call in center services because free promotion and voicemail wasn’t an option.

But today, the Internet has changed all that. Working at home doesn’t require selling face-to-face. People can work anywhere in the world using drop shipping or electronic transfer. Promotion and business tools can cost nearly nothing! So I’m always surprised when people tell me that they can’t work at home. Why not? It’s so easy now.

Here are the most common reasons people tell me they can’t work at home, and my responses to these excuses.

1) “Everything online is a scam.” This is just not true. If everything you find is a scam, the problem is either you don’t understand what working at home is or you’re looking in the wrong place. There are thousands of legitimate work-at-home jobs and programs that can be found on the Internet. But none are going to pay you read email, type ads, lick envelopes or surf the net. Working at home is WORK. The easiest way to get scammed is to look for a fast, easy way to make a buck. Jobs require skills and experience, a professional resume, and often an interview whether it is a site based or home based job. Home businesses opportunities must have a quality product or service, a refund policy, and in my opinion, credible third party endorsements like awards or honors. To avoid scams, read books and articles about working at home so you understand what legitimate work-at-home options look like and can therefore focus your search in the right area.

2) “You may be able to work at home Leslie, but I just can’t.” “Won’t” is a more accurate word than “can’t” in this situation. Most elderly ladies can’t lift a car until their grandson is trapped underneath one. When truly motivated, people can accomplish just about anything. The truth is every one is capable of far more than they give themselves credit for or are willing to even try. Succeeding at working at home is hard. It takes a great deal of work that often has no payoff for weeks even months. But the millions of regular people who have found success working at home are proof that it can be done if the desire and effort are big enough. If you REALLY want to work at home, you can. You just have to be willing to try and keep at it until you succeed.

3) “I don’t have any money.” This excuse usually comes to me in an email, which tells me one of two things; the person who wrote has enough money for Internet service or he at least has access to Internet service through a friend or library. To make money at home, that’s all you need IF you are willing to work hard. You can sign up for free affiliate programs that provide you with a website. You can build a website for free. You can market for free using message boards, articles, press releases, blogs and more. And work-at-home jobs are free otherwise they aren’t jobs. The truth is, most people waste more money than they’d ever need to work at home. Pizza, vending machine food, magazines and books, manicures, expensive coffee, movies, junk food…all are “extras” that cost money. Give up just a couple of these and you have plenty of money.

4) “I don’t have any time.” Do you really expect to get more time? I have a friend who started a business while working outside the home part time. I met with her by phone weekly and we emailed or IMed daily. Then, she quit her job so she could have more time to work on her business. Guess what? I haven’t heard from her in nearly a month. The truth is, the busiest people are the most productive people. They recognize their time constraints and prioritize their time accordingly. Just like the money question above, odds are more time is wasted than people know. How much television do you watch? How much leisure reading do you do? How many hours do you sleep? What do you do on your lunch hour? People have built successful online businesses or found work-at-home jobs with snippets of time used efficiently during the day. That’s what’s so great about the Internet; you aren’t limited to business hours. It offers the ultimate in flexibility. The truth is, you won’t ever have more time. But, you can always make time if you really want to achieve something.

5) “I tried it but it didn’t work.” I’ve tried a lot of things that didn’t work. But if I’m to be really honest with myself, it was my fault that it didn’t work. If it was a scam, then I should have researched better. But most often, I have tried legitimate programs and simply failed to do what it took, over a long enough period of time to make it work. You can’t just run one ad or send one resume and expect to be successful working at home. You have to work consistently over a period of time. That will give you momentum. Then you need to keep doing it so the momentum doesn’t stop. When looking to telecommute, you need to keep looking, keep applying and keep honing your skills. If you are starting a home business, you need to develop a marketing plan and stick with it. You will absolutely have times of frustration, disappointment, and failure. You can’t quit just because things get hard or you have a disappointment. If our children quit as easily as we do as adults, they’d never learn to walk. Take it from a child, when you fall down, get back up and try again.

With the Internet, working at home is so incredibly simple. That’s not to say that it’s easy or that it doesn’t require work. There is no sign-up-get-rich program. Working at home takes a plan of action and consistent effort. It takes a leap of faith and a commitment. It takes a willingness to endure the hardships and disappointments. But if you are willing to do what it takes, you can work at home. If I can do it, anybody can do it.